Popular Information: New Florida sex education curriculum excludes almost all information about sex

[Dennis Donovan]

Popular Information - New Florida sex education curriculum excludes almost all information about sex

Judd Legum
Dec 10, 2024

A new middle school sex education curriculum in Orange County, Florida, obtained by Popular Information, eliminates previous lessons on the reproductive system, contraception, and consent. What remains is a discussion of the benefits of abstinence and a cursory review of various sexually transmitted diseases.

Orange County's new curriculum, provided to Popular Information by the Florida Freedom to Read Project, was recently approved by the Florida Department of Education. That approval was required as part of a law, HB 1069, signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) in May 2023. The law requires schools to “teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for all school-age students.”

The new Orange County 8th grade sex education curriculum, for example, emphasizes that abstinence is the only 100% effective method to prevent sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy. The same information was included in Orange County's previous 8th grade sex education curriculum, taught in prior years, and submitted to the Florida Department of Education for the 2023-24 school year, but never approved.



A very large amount of material has been removed from the sex education curriculum. The 8th grade sex education curriculum submitted last year but not approved is 230 pages. The new, approved version is 36 pages. (You can review both documents in full at the end of this story.)

The old curriculum included basic information about human anatomy that has now been eliminated.

/snip

[Diamond_Dog]

1. Why even bother?

What are they so afraid of, that kids will “get ideas” if they are taught about anatomy and what makes a baby?

[Biophilic]

2. Sounds useful to me.

Although I grew up in the era before sex education and we got along fine. I honestly had no clue what any of it was about. I think back now and shutter on how I managed to not get sick or pregnant.

[Dem4life1234]

3. Such a gorgeous state

Ruined by these idiots.

[sop]

6. We call it the Red Tide.

Toxic conservative waste coming from the red states into Florida.

[Dem4life1234]

13. Like toxic odious sludge

[atreides1]

4. With this attitude about sex

Florida, will soon to become the New Shaker Sect.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. NJ 1975

Co-Ed sex ed class 6 weeks

Football coach. Intro: “I know half of you are already ‘doing it’. My job is to make sure you don’t catch VD and/or have a baby.”

[Hekate]

9. I think I like your coach

[Hekate]

7. That sure worked in the first half of the 20th century. As Alito said in Dobbs, females have a duty to provide adoptable

… babies. Itbothers him a lot that there has not been an adequate supply ever since the Pill became available.

[Initech]

8. We are currently being ruled by the stupidest people alive.

[dawg]

10. Sometimes, when a husband and wife love each other very much ...

Jesus sends the stork to their house with a baby.

What else is there to know?

[dawg]

11. I'm serious.

No one ever told me.

[allegorical oracle]

12. A friend of mine last year asked her 15-yo daughter about what goes on at school about

sex. Her daughter told her that nobody really needs any books about it because they've learned from each other -- or already had sex. The ones who haven't had intercourse are okay with just "doing oral sex". My friend was stunned.

[GenThePerservering]

14. OK, I'm 71, and that was pretty much the state of affairs even when *I* was a teen.

I was one who didn't have anything to do with sex (I wasn't interested/was too dorky anyway). We had sex education in grade school and then in high school - birds and bees stuff. I think out of hundreds of students, ONE girl got pregnant.

Abstinence doesn't work but education does.

[Solly Mack]

15. Ignorance is a contagious disease.

[uponit7771]

16. They need Americans to breed so they can have cheaper labor